Exclusive: 7 Behind The Scenes Details On WWE's 'Boneyard Match' At WrestleMania 36

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Who Came Up With AJ's Hand Spot

AJ Styles WrestleMania 36 Boneyard Match
WWE

Earlier, Triple H and Michael Hayes had spotted a prop hand on location that they wanted to use at some point during the match. The only problem was that they didn't have any idea when it could come into play. 'Taker, meanwhile, did.

He was the one who pitched "AJ's hand" poking up through the dirt once he was buried underneath. It was reminiscent of 'Taker's own desperate bid for survival back at In Your House: Buried Alive in October 1996. You know the image - it's the one that has his purple-gloved digits poking through the soil towards freedom.

The Undertaker believed that'd be a nice touch for the production, and that was that. Upon closer inspection (like in the brightened-up pic accompanying this entry), it's obvious that the hand is fake. In real-time though, under the shroud of clever lighting tricks, it looked fantastic.

There you go. Trips and Hayes had found the phoney hand hours before and thought it'd be a fun idea, but it was 'Taker himself who thought to include a nod towards his own past as WrestleMania 36 went off the air.

What did you make of WrestleMania 36's 'Boneyard Match'? For more like this, check out 5 Culprits Who Could Be WWE SmackDown's Truth-Telling Glitch Hacker and 6 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE's Road To WrestleMania 36!

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.